well, as you may or may not know (don't know how you couldn't) michael moore has once again done it again. this time he's delving into the healthcare industry. i haven't seen the movie yet, tho my son has (god help us, i think i've raised a radical anarchist)

the healthcare problem in this country has always been a sticking point with me, seeing as i have a chronic illness and have been denied care because my piddly insurance wouldn't pay for it. before the government finally passed the prescription drug plan, my insurance would only pay for generic. i went to one doctor and told him that my insurance wouldn't pay for the script he gave me. he refused, refused to write me a script for something else. i came home in tears. when i took the script to the pharmacy just to see how much it would cost, i was told $180 for one month supply...what? excuse me? are they dipped in gold?

anyone who is allowed to see my credit report will see that nearly all of my unpaid "charges" are healthcare related. and this keeps me from having decent credit to oh say, buy a car, rent an apartment, you name it.

i think back to the kerry/bush campaign and remember quite vividly someone on js saying that he just didn't know how kerry could pay for his healthcare plan, so instead he voted for bush.

at this time, i'll ask you to please note the counter at the top telling us just how much money this administration has wasted on the iraq "war" (i believe the administration's official phrasing is "war on terror") we could have used that money to pay for a valid healthcare system.

a few weeks ago, oprah had moore on her show, along with a few other "experts" and as if on cue, the "insurance industry spokeswoman" brought up the fact that other countries, such as france, canada and great brittian pay higher taxes for their "socialized" medicine. moore responded that by the time we pay for our children's college education and our hefty health insurance premiums, it all evens out. likewise, we also have "socialized" medicine in place in the form of military benefits, medicaid and medicare.

two women in the audience, one from canada and one from scotland, stood up and said, "well yes, maybe we have to wait a little longer to get into see a doctor, but at least we won't have to take a second morgage out on our house."

so as i was cruising through some of my old journal entries (what can i say, i'm bored) i found this little entry i made waaaaaaay back in jan 2004.

denial is the religion of this country.

canada and france have the right idea with their socialism. most people think socialism is bad. they automatically think of the communist version of it. that's the propaganda that's been handed down for generations here and it's just not accurate.

then the other argument is, "well they pay higher taxes" but really in the end it all evens out. think of what we pay for health insurance. when hubby was an i.t. contractor, he paid nearly $300 dollars a every two weeks for family coverage on everything(that's including dental and eyes) look at what a college education costs in this country. and if you're not black, indian, immigrant, disabled or from a severely disadvantaged family, forget about finding federal money to go.

wow! moore must have been reading my journal.

a lot of us do "get it" now it's time to unseat these politians that cater to this special interest group or that one, and put some folks in there that really want change for the better.